A Little Night Music
by Twilightkk
Summary: Post-ep for A Bend in the Road. Missing scenes of Sam at the hospital.


7:00PM Waiting Area- Surgery Ward

_A Little Night Music_

**7:00PM Waiting Area- Surgery Ward**

Samantha stared at nothing. Eyes blank, she just looked at the wall in front of her. A dark shaded painting hung on the wall depicting a man tending to a young boy's bed by candlelight. A beam of sunshine accented an 18th century syringe on the bedside table while the boy lay steeped in shadow. It was as if the light was telling Sam that the needle was the only way that the boy could be saved from his illness. The caption underneath the painting read "Edward Jenner uses the smallpox vaccine on James Phipps—1798". But Sam could only see the young boy, lying prostrate on the bed, covered almost entirely in shadow.

Vivian returned to the seating area, catching Sam's attention. She looked exhausted as she slowly sat in one of the chairs near Sam. In truth, Vivian had had a rough day too. She had spent the entire day chasing both Romar and Jack, bouncing between anger and concern and still had not settled on one emotion.

Viv said nothing.

Releasing a small sigh, Samantha turned back to the painting. It had been a long day. It would be a long night. Unconsciously she began to rub her belly and smiled when he gave a little kick back, letting his mommy know that he would be with her all night too.

Her mind wandered. She didn't want to think about what was happening. It was all too fresh and made her heart flutter sending waves of anxiety over her. She thought about _him_, hoping desperately that everything would be ok. That he would be ok.

She couldn't stop thinking about him. His car found burned both inside and out. A pool of blood congealed in an abandoned warehouse. His body floating in a cesspool of filth and trash. Vivian had been the one to find him: to take him to the hospital. He was barely breathing. He was bleeding. He was cold. He was dying.

She closed her eyes and decided to take a walk...

……………………………………………………………………………………………

**8:00AM Waiting Area—Surgery Ward**

The nurse had said it would take twelve hours to complete the surgery but it had been nearly thirteen. This was taking too long; she needed to see him. She walked toward the nurses' station again.

"Excuse me. I'm still waiting for an update on Jack Malone"

"I've paged the OR Maam. I'm sure I will have an update for you soon. Please have a seat and I promise that I will come find you"

"Ok, I'm sitting over there" she pointed to the far wall as she turned to find her seat. Her back hurt and her feet ached, but those were minor discomforts compared to Jack. She slowly sat down and decided to fix her eyes on the door to the OR. Her only justification for tuning her gaze was to check her watch.

Eventually a man emerged from the OR and approached Samantha. He was dressed entirely in blue OR scrubs complete with an offbeat patterned surgical hat. She tried to read his expression as he approached. He appeared firm and determined, making it difficult to get a read on him. That uncertainty made her nervous.

"Ms. Spade?"

She unsteadily stood up, reaching behind to support her back. "Yes."

The doctor gestured toward her. "Please stay seated, Ms. Spade"

"It's Samantha."

"Ok, Samantha. I wanted to let you know that we are finishing the surgery, and will soon move Jack to Recovery."

"Is he going to be ok? Why did the surgery last so long?"

"There were some minor complications. When we went in to repair his lung we found some additional damage to some blood vessels. He has lost a substantial amount of blood but we have given him a few transfusions, and repaired the damaged blood vessels. His lung reinflated and I placed a tube in his chest that will allow it to heal properly. It's very good that he survived the surgery, but now we just need to wait."

"Well...umm….How long? I mean when will you know if he is going to be ok?"

"We're going to watch him closely for the next few hours. I need to wait for the anesthesia to ware off, monitor his antibiotics, and watch his vital signs. I'm hopeful that he will continue to improve and that we'll be able to move him to the ICU in a few hours. Remain here and I'll have one of the nurses bring you in to see him in a while"

"Ok. Thank you" she managed to mumble as the doctor stood up and began to walk toward the nurses' station. She watched as he talked to one of the nurses and then disappeared back behind the doors to the OR.

Her mind reeled. She wasn't certain which portion of that conversation she would be able to digest. He had mentioned complications. Minor complications that took extra time to fix. She remembered he said a "few" transfusions. Her eyes began to water as she suddenly thought about him lying on that warehouse floor, gasping for breath, blood seeping out. The doctor had also mentioned tubes. She remembered that the nurse had explained the term thoracotomy to her earlier. His lung had collapsed and he couldn't breath enough oxygen so the doctors had to insert a tube that would allow his lung to re-expand and would drain all the blood and fluid.

She looked back at the OR doors, and yearned for the nurse to take her to him. She wanted to touch him, hold his hand. She needed to feel him, to make sure he really was alive. Silent tears began to roll down her cheek. She gave a small sniffle and wiped her eyes and nose on the back of her black sleeve.

Her attention turned to her phone, which had begun to vibrate, and she looked at the caller ID: Elaina. With a sigh and a deep breath she picked up the phone, slowly bringing it to her ear. "Hi Elaina"…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**10:22AM ICU**

She followed the nurse down the corridor, the signs on the walls kept pointing to the ICU. She wondered how long it would take to get there. It seemed like ages ago she began her journey from the waiting area to the ICU; it had only been 46 seconds.

The nurse had come to her about a half hour ago. He explained that Jack had been moved to the ICU after two hours in recovery. It was a good sign.

She knew what to expect. He would be very pale and cold from the shock and blood loss. He still had not woken from the anesthesia but that usually took hours to wear off. She knew that he would have some tubes coming from his incision into a drainage container on the side of the bed, that there would be IV's and leads on his arms and chest, and that he would be breathing with a nasal cannula.

Finally she saw the sign identifying the ICU. The nurse led her through the door; she saw a circular shaped room that seemed large and uninviting. The nurses' station sat in the center of the room, monitors hanging both above and below the counters, a team of nurses were busy attending to their duties. She slowly walked towards a room that was framed completely with clear plastic, save for the bottom half of the wall.

She stopped when she saw him. From the distance he looked peaceful, like he was resting in bed after a long day. It made her think of their nights together, those times when she took comfort in hearing him snore.

Tentatively she approached the door and walked to the side of the bed. He looked so ashen; a sheen of sweat completely covered his skin. He had abrasions on his head and arms and his face looked slacken. She placed a hand on his forearm and ran two fingers across his forehead and down his cheek.

She listen to him breath, short shallow breaths. There was a cracking sound when he breathed, and she knew it would be a while before he would be able to breathe easily again.

"Jack" she barely whispered. "Its….ah…um….it's Sam" she squeezed his arm and leaned forward a little more "I…ah…I'm not going anywhere, Ok?" Her voice began to crack and she decided it would be better if she sat in the chair next to him. She began to rub her belly again taking comfort in both her son and the sound of Jack's heart beating.

She watched Jack and her mind began to wonder again….

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**2:35PM ICU**

Sam rubbed her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept; she hadn't been able to doze since coming to the hospital. Martin had called an hour ago and told her she needed to rest. It was true, but she couldn't relax just yet.

The past half hour had made her a little more alert, though. Brian came to the hospital under false pretenses and then confronted her about his guilty conscious. She still wasn't sure what had possessed him to show up with that conversation after she had told him her friend had been shot. Then Jack woke up about fifteen minutes later confused and disoriented. She had rushed to soothe him but she wasn't sure he really knew she was there. She had watched helplessly as he flailed around in the bed alternating between extreme movements and noticeable waves of pain. He had curled up toward his chest a few times, and took labored breaths. When he began to relax a little she could see his vain attempt to focus his eyes and gather his bearings. His nurse had administered a sedative and he soon lapsed into unconsciousness again. The entire incident had upset her and the nurse forced her to sit down by threatening to call the on-call OB physician.

A low grunting sounded from the bed, catching her attention. Sam looked up from her reverie and saw his eyes slowly opening. She stood up and moved into his view. "Hey there" she smiled at him.

"Sssmantha" he said softly, his eyes slowly closed

"Yeah, I'm right here" she moved her hand on top of his and gave him a gentle squeeze.

His eyes opened again and he was able to focus slightly on her. He wanted to squeeze her hand back but was only able to curl the tips of a few fingers.

"Mmm" He tried to speak again but was overwhelmed with a sharp pain to his side. He took a couple of semi deep inhales before trying to speak again. "Mmm..s'cold" came out in a slurred drawl.

"I'll go get you a heated blanket. I'll be right back" Samantha replied softly, stroking his cheek as she turned to leave the room.

He groaned softly and lazily closed his eyes as he listened to her walk out of the room.

By the time she returned he had fallen asleep. She tenderly placed the heated blanket over him and returned to her chair. She smiled inwardly as the baby began to kick again. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut and she finally fell into a comfortable sleep, it would be a long journey for Jack but for the moment she was content with knowing that she would be with him on his journey.

END 


End file.
